October 5, 2026
Translate your website on the page
Keep one shared structure across languages, and translate only what changes.
If you want to deliver your website in multiple languages, you currently have more or less two options: Either maintain a separate website for each language, or pick a CMS that provides a translation interface. The former is easier to use, but it will be hard to sync everything manually. The latter will preserve structure for you, but it’s usually a pain editing the translations. You’ll have to click the right buttons in a crowded admin interface, and wait for the result to change in a preview environment. Not fun. I think we can do much better!
Keep one shared structure and edit translations in place
As of Editable 2.0 Preview 9, you can simply switch the language and edit translations directly on the page. No need for an admin panel. If you add new content to the main language, your changes will flow through to the translated pages automatically. They first appear in the original language until translated. Translations are really just overrides: if nothing changes (e.g., a button label stays the same across languages), Editable doesn’t store a translation. You can not only translate text but also replace images and videos with region-specific alternatives.
How can I enable multilingual sites?
Multiple languages are opt-in, so you might want to start your site in a single, original language. And at a later point, you enable translation by updating .env as follows:
# Optional LANGUAGES: a comma-separated list of BCP 47 language tags. # Put the original language first; each tag is a separate content variant. # Examples: "en,de" or "en-US,en-GB,de-AT". Blank keeps single-language behavior. LANGUAGES="en,de,es,fr"
The first in the list (en) is the main language, which sets the structure and original content. The other languages (de, es,fr) keep the original structure, and just provide overrides for text and media.
Who is it for?
Editable’s translation system works best for websites that are fundamentally the same across languages.
If you build for an international company, its website may need to be structurally different by region, not just by language. Think of different products, campaigns, and pricing. In such a case, it might often be better to create separate websites with full freedom in how to structure them. Then you can have marketing-specific messaging, local pricing, etc.
Generally speaking, if your company is big and you need formal handoffs, approval stages, or external translators, Editable may not be the right fit for you. Not because you couldn’t realize those, but simply because that functionality does not come out of the box and may require significant development effort.
Optionally let translated pages have their own structure?
Many sites may share the same structure across 90% of their pages, but for a few pages, you may want the freedom to structure them individually. For those cases, I’m considering introducing an option to detach specific translated pages. The idea is to get the best of both worlds: structurally identical pages by default, with the option to create full copies and maintain them independently.
Automated translations?
Editable is designed for humans writing original content in the first place, but of course sometimes it’s reasonable to automate the translation process. You’d write scripts that utilize translation services or employ an LLM to generate translations for each page. Then you’d hopefully still check the pages manually and fix bad translations as you encounter them.
Until the Editable API lands (I will post about that soon), the best way to automate your translation process is to utilize the computer-use capabilities of your AI app of choice (e.g., ChatGPT or Claude). It can use the editor on your behalf, and you can watch along while it writes the translations.
Last updated October 5, 2026 · Cover artwork by Book of Shapes
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